Christmas an occasion to spend quality time with family, friends

Muscat: With Christmas around the corner, residents are planning and celebrating one of the much anticipated festive seasons in Oman.
For many, Christmas is regarded as a holiday filled with laughter, decorating the house, and most importantly, spending quality time with family and friends.
Talking to the Times of Oman, Andrea Hrabovsky, who has been residing in the Sultanate for seven years said that she has an entirely different plan for the holidays this year.
Favourite destination
“Now that my children are six and four-and-a-half – perfect age to enjoy travelling and remembering the experience – my husband and I decided to take them around to our favourite destination which is none other than Oman.
“After the Christmas services, we all will head to Nizwa and spend a night there. From there we will drive to Wahiba Sand and camp for one night. After enjoying our camp night and some camel rides, we will begin our journey to Sur and spend two nights there. We will then drive to Salalah as we have heard so much about the coastal road leading to the city, and will spend two nights,” Hrabovsky said.
She added that on the way back she and kids will take the flight to Muscat while her husband and his brother, who is visiting them over the holidays, will take the road to Muscat.
On the other hand, Katie Stetler has a houseful of family for the first time since she moved to Oman.
“Whether you are celebrating a secular or religious Christmas, it is a day for fun, love, and happiness. This is the first time that my family has gathered from the States to celebrate Christmas with me so we thought to stick to our usual traditions. We have already decorated our house with the Christmas tree and a lot of joyful lightings and hung stocking over the mantle.
“We have been religiously participating in carols because who wouldn’t enjoy singing? We have also got matching stockings for the family this time which we are planning to sport on the Christmas Eve,” Stetler said.
She added that the family has also decided on a special feast this year with their special home-prepared cranberry sauce and fruit cake.
While Stetler is enjoying her time with family visiting her for the first time, Olinda Rosario talks about how different the experience is of celebrating Christmas as an adult.
“As a child, I looked forward to stitching new clothes, writing letters to Father Christmas and going to mass and looking for gifts under the tree. “As an adult, it is more of a spiritual experience, and we start this from the first week of December. We celebrate four Sundays leading up to the Christmas with different themes like faith, hope joy and peace. We then meditate on this so that the Christmas is more meaningful. We prepare sweets with children, set up Christmas crib, tree, go for carol singing at the church, midnight mass, meet and greet, and lunch with the family,” Rosario said.